Crosses of Pompeii
Subtitle: Jesus-Devotion in a Vesuvian Town
Publisher: 1517 Media
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 358
ISBN-13: 9781451490121
Subjects: Christianity; Pompeii (extinct city); Italy, church history
Description: The eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 79 preserved a wealth of evidence about the town, buried for centuries in volcanic ash. Since the town's excavations in the eighteenth century, archaeologists have disputed the evidence that might attest the presence of Christians in Pompeii before the eruption. Now, Bruce Longenecker reviews that material evidence and introduces artifacts previously unrecognized for their relevance to the issue. Illustrated with maps, charts, photographs, and line drawings depicting artifacts from the town, The Crosses of Pompeii presents an elegant case for the presence of Jesus-devotion in the Vesuvian town. Longenecker's arguments require dramatic changes to our understanding of the history of earliest Christianity.